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Published on 12/14/1998 All articles from this issue

Beanie Babies put to good use through giving residents

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Town Crier Staff Report

With all the adult collectors' greed displayed over Beanie Babies, once upon a time created for kids, at least some Los Altos residents are using them to benefit others.

Los Altos resident Tammy Gaw and her young sons delivered between 275-300 Beanies last week to two needy schools in San Jose, Los Arboles and Hellyer.

For the Gaws, the giving wasn't the hard part - it was a question of whom to give that turned out to be the challenge.

The search took weeks because Gaw said some agencies wanted to maximize the profit of the in-demand toys.

She said she wanted her boys involved in the simple act of giving their toys away to others.

They made connections to the Los Arboles and Hellyer schools through Catholic Charities of San Jose, and decided to trade their rare Beanies in to get even more to give away.

Collector's items aside, as far as many kids are concerned, "They just want something to cuddle," Gaw said.

Dennis Ronberg, co-owner of Linden Tree Children's Records and Books in Los Altos, also used Beanies to give, in this case, Beanie sales.

He raised $2 from every sale to purchase nearly $4,000 in Spanish books through the Gift Of Reading program in San Jose. Ronberg said he had the books delivered last week.

Beanie Babies, created by Ty, Inc., have spurred a toy phenomenon that has some rare, or "retired" toys selling for hundreds of dollars.